Aha! You’ve seen the pattern. Who says you aren’t genius? Okay, so when I finally get around to blogging I feel the need to tell you everything I think you ought to know that I have been saving just for you. But, I don’t want to put it all in one post because that would be too long and you’d get bored. And so is born the phenomenon of two-posts-in-one-week-and-then-no-posts-in-six-months.

Yesterday, I drastically improved your life by informing you of music you ought not live without (you’re welcome); today, I intend to improve your life by telling you about a blog that will make your life scintillate (that’s right, scintillate). Again, you must not cease and desist when I tell you it is written by my brother because a little logic will tell you that if you like my blog, chances are you’ll like his; I will admit that we are quite different (he is, after all, studying some kind of science that I have no comprehension of and he likewise thinks religion is for the kookies (yes I did just make a noun out of an adjective) in the world), but we are genetically related so our natural abilities are obviously similar (obviously), which is my way of saying that he can write better than I (point in fact, he named his blog nuggets of nugacity and I had to look the second word up). Plus, he posts far more frequently than I do (that last part might have something to do with the blog being a class assignment). At any rate, it’s not all science on his blog and what science is there is  popular and fascinating – like this recent post on a fish that hops with a fin and looks drunk. Plus, he posts a lot of videos, and he keeps abreast of interesting stories so that I don’t have to. Overall, it’s a very handy (and amusing) service he provides and you would be remiss not to subscribe.

1. Must do reading.
2. Don’t want to do anymore f***ing reading.

So now you’re caught up.

In other, far more exciting news, my friend Caroline finally released a CD last year. And, lest you stop reading here because you think everyone who blogs about a friend’s music is clearly biased, you can read Adam’s glowing review of the CD (from months ago) and rest assured that he has never met Caroline and was as suspicious as you are about my forcing him to listen to a friend’s muisc.

That said, you ought to leave this page right now (don’t worry, I won’t delete the blog while you’re gone) and go get her music from iTunes.

“A Me Shaped Hole,” the name of her CD, is a mix of Americana and folk music, in my humble no-nothing-serious-about-music-classification opinion. I met Caroline almost six years ago at the Ghost Ranch where we were both working, and I still remember the first time she pulled out her guitar and started singing – it was amazing. I only wish she could have put every song she’s ever sung on this CD. Fortunately for all of us, she has chosen 12 songs that she wrote herself, so we can all afford the CD. Perhaps on her next CD she’ll record all the rest of the songs that have ever come out of her mouth – one can hope.

At any rate, Caroline sent us a copy of her CD back in November and it is still in our car, in the CD player, and we have been known to put it on repeat both in the house and in the car for days – it is a CD that was great the first time, but in my opinion only gets better the more you listen to it (unlike the teenage pop music Adam’s been known to blast in the house when I’m gone). Adam proclaimed to the world that “Blackbird” was his favorite song, but my money is on “Sally” for the winner of a future grammy. But I’ll give him “Blackbird” as a close second.

At this point, having now fulfilled my moral obligation to inform you of music you ought not live without, I am going to cease and desist and return to my PhD shaped world and either read or bang my head against the desk in hopes of shaking lose some more space in which to cram more knowledge and/or as a sign of protest (that is if I can find my desk underneath all these dang books). So, I shall leave you with the links Adam had at the bottom of his review. [And, can we just take a moment to appreciate the fact that I remembered how to embed links and photos in a post even though it has been six months? Yes, that's right, I'm clearly amazing.]

• Buy album on iTunes ($9.99)
• Buy album on CD Baby ($11.99)
• MySpace Music page
• Facebook Fan page

To be honest, I’m not entirely sure why I put this book on my Amazon wish list since historical fiction isn’t generally my favorite and war stories fall even lower on my list. But, the cover did not lie – I could not put it down. It is not a book of light subjects: war, rape, abuse, discrimination, etc; but it is a book that is easy to read and quite gripping. I believe, based on what I read in the back of the book that it is fairly accurate historically, but it tells a fictional story of a young woman who is forced to run away from home during the Revolutionary War. In the course of her journeys she meets a traveling preacher who gives her refuge and eventually ends up joining the army disguised as a boy simply for a way to survive during the winter.

I’m not sure I would say this is a particularly brilliant novel – it doesn’t make my top ten – but it is solid and one of the best I’ve read in awhile.

The book tells the story of Alma, an author trying fairly unsuccessfully to write a new novel, and her husband, Richard who is away on a business trip trying to save the world. Intertwined with Alma’s chronicle is the story she is writing of an historical attempt to save the world from smallpox. The two stories wrap around one another in mutually enlightening ways, but the story as a whole drags, seems a bit unrealistic, and fails to make its point in an impressive way.

All in all, I have to say it is probably a book you could live without reading. But, since the rest of Alvarez’s books are quite good, perhaps it would be worth a read with the actual book where you could read a bit faster than listening to someone read it for you.

While ostensibly a series for children, this set of novels is more appropriately enjoyed by adults who can fully appreciate all of the innuendos and philosophical elements the novel weaves into an exciting adventure. The stories follow an eleven year old girl, Lyra, from a world unlike our own who gets caught up in the theological and political debates of her time. While the underlying premise for the series is a war on The Almighty, the grist of the story is an adventure through the eyes of a young girl as she travels through multiple worlds and plays her part in fate.

Adam and I listened to all three books on our drive out west and they were our saving grace on multiple 12 hour days in the car. Like Harry Potter, which is more enjoyably listened to the first time around, the audio recordings of this trilogy are well worth the time it takes to listen rather than read. They are narrated by the author himself and read by a whole cast of characters. They are a delight.

And, if you need further incentive to read them, the movie of the first book, The Golden Compass, is coming out in December – so hop to …

I’m not sure exactly what to say about the book except that I liked it and (again) I was surprised I liked it. The story revolves around a divorced professor in his 50s who lives in South Africa post-Apartheid. His character borders on being incredibly unlikeable, which always kills a book for me, but manages to stay in your good graces despite his seeming apathy and continual fall into disgrace.

It isn’t a book that resolves itself or leaves you feeling that things are as they should be, but it is a book you will finish – even if you put it down once or twice along the way.

Anyway, I spent most of the two and half hours we spent in the bookstore writing down titles for books I wanted to read. You can see them here (along with others), but I did allow myself part of my birthday money to buy a few books. Here If You Need Me by Kate Braestrup was one of the five books (out of thousands) that won a lucky space in my bag at the end of the day.

It is a short memoir and it reads quickly. At first I thought it was just so-so: definitely an interesting story (a mother of four goes to seminary and becomes a chaplain for Maine search and rescue missions after her husband dies in a car accident – ministry had been his retirement plan), but a bit cliche in the writing. But, 3/4 of the way through either it got better or I stopped noticing. Anyway, I liked it (didn’t love it), but would recommend reading a library copy. She has some interesting thoughts on faith and some profound sentences. All in all, an enjoyable book and, like I said, an incredible story underneath it all.

It is finished. Sadly. Though appropriately I suppose – good things can’t go on forever or they stop being good. Right? Right.

Well, I won the bet and finished the first six Harry Potter books well before the seventh book came out. The terms of the bet turned out to be Adam cleaning up from dinner one night AND, more importantly, going to Barnes and Noble on Saturday morning to buy me the seventh book when we found out that UPS, who was scheduled to deliver the book, does not deliver on Saturdays. And, indeed, I finished the book at 11pm on Saturday and the book I pre-ordered did not show up until Monday afternoon – so it was a good bet. So we have two copies, one we will be returning to Barnes and Noble and the Amazon copy we got for free since they did not live up to their promise to deliver the day of.

I can’t say much about the book yet since Adam hasn’t finished it. But I will say that I liked it. I liked the ending. I’m disappointed it didn’t have any twists, but it was satisfying just the same. Definitely a great series and a good ending.

(I am going to talk about the movie in this post (duh) so if you don’t want to know what happens in the movie; which IS slightly different at points than what happens in the book, I would not read any further)

Initial disclaimer: I have yet to like any Harry Potter movie when it is first released; yet, I own the first three and will buy the rest eventually.

That said. I didn’t like the movie and I am sorely disappointed. I finished re-reading the first six Harry Potter books two nights ago and was very much looking forward to seeing the movie as a hold over until the final book arrives (hopefully Saturday; as a side note, I’m starting to regret ordering it from Amazon because now I want to go buy one at midnight and start reading it). But I didn’t like it.

I’m sure I annoyed the crap out of Adam since I sat through the whole movie sighing and pointing out what wasn’t in the book, but come on! I get that you cannot put everything in a book that long into a reasonably timed movie – I am resigned that movies of books will always be forced to leave parts out; resigned, however, does not mean pleased – but if you are cutting out, why add things in that aren’t there to begin with?? Why not use that space to put in what was in the book?

I am willing to be corrected here since I did re-read the books rather quickly. But I have no recollection of Umbridge interrogating students at random; and I know the whole DA did not have detention together; AND Cho did not turn them in!!!

Aside from my annoyance at add-ins and deletions, my major beefs with the movie are these:

1. There is no balance in the movie between light and dark. The whole of the movie is dark. I recognize that there are dark aspects to the series, and I am glad the movies show those, but there are also warm/cheery sections in the book. Hogwarts is almost always a cheery place, especially the dormitories and Dumbledore’s office. The movie showed none of this – Hogwarts was as dark and dreary as everything else (and where was the enchanted ceiling? It’s my favorite part).
2. Too much Umbridge. I grant you that the character of Dolores Umbridge plays a major role in this book, but she was the whole of the movie. Where was the quidditch, the ghosts, the lessons other than Defense Against the Dark Arts? I think we could have done with a little less Umbridge and a little more of everything else.
3. The acting. I think Daniel Radcliffe is great and I think he was great in the movie; I think Rupert Grint (Ron) was good as well in the few scenes where he actually talked or acted at all. I thought Michael Gambon (Dumbledore) was an inspired choice to step in for Richard Harris, who was perfect for the role; but, in this movie (perhaps because of the plot) he brought to mind Lord of the Rings a little too frequently and I wished they had used someone different (granted I also found the scene between Dumbledore and Voldemort in the Ministry of Magic quite Lord of the Rings -esque). Finally, I thought Emma Watson (Hermione) was awkward, though I’m willing to accept the possibility that that was more to do with her lines than her ability to act, which brings me to my final critique (for now) …
4. I thought the transitions were awkward and the connections lacking. Adam didn’t seem to think so, so it may have more to do with my knowing all that was missing rather than the connections actually being weak. But I wondered whether or not I would get everything that was going on if I hadn’t read the book. Then again, perhaps I would have enjoyed the movie more if I hadn’t read the book, or at least not as recently.

All in all, disappointed. But, if things go as they have gone in the past, I will enjoy the movie in the future when the book is not so fresh in my mind. And for now, at least I have the final book to look forward to – let us hope that it is as satisfying as the past six have been.

We watched An Inconvenient Truth Saturday night when we got home and I now am of the belief that everyone should watch it. I think the work Al Gore has done and continues to do is amazing and incredibly important. (I feel like if I had lost the presidential election to Bush I might still be moping, but this man has definitely done something productive with his time) Not only is it an incredibly relevant (and urgent) topic for our day and age, but the film is really well done and very engaging. Definitely a must see. Definitely.

This is my husband. He looks easy going, but he can be very stubborn. Unfortunately, for him, not as stubborn as his very tenacious wife. Adam almost always goes to bed after I do; so, when we’re sharing a room (like on vacation) it’s Adam’s job to turn off the light before he goes to sleep. Well, one night Adam decided to go to bed when I did, so we had no one to turn off the light. The result was both of us lying in bed waiting for the other person to get up and turn off the light. We both tried to pretend we were sleeping so the other person would have to get up, but inevitably after five or six seconds we’d start giggling. Adam held out almost five minutes, but in the end he decided to take the “high road” and turn off the light. And victory is mine. Thank you.

Mrs. Kimble by Jennifer Haigh may not be great literature, but considering I read it all on the plane ride from Rochester to Seattle, I think it’s pretty good. It is an engaging story and definitely worth picking up should you want to escape your own life for a little while, or simply pass time quickly.

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson, on the other hand, might be consider great literature. Or perhaps not, but still a great book and definitely worth reading. The novel blends “case histories” or glimpses of different people’s lives into one story with a murder at the heart of it all.

Caroling. Mmm. Adam’s family is big into caroling. Every year they carol through nursing homes and hospitals and to elderly folks who don’t get out much. It combines both holiday cheer and good outreach. It also goes for four hours. Adam can tell you that I’m not much of a caroler. I once sang in choirs and did all that good stuff, but have since put it behind me. I am, perhaps, the most reluctant of carolers. But, tradition is tradition and so we caroled.

My brother’s girlfriend got Little Miss Sunshine for Christmas and let us borrow it, since neither of had seen it. Probably you’ve already watched it, but if you haven’t, you should. We both laughed, cringed, and stared in abject horror sometimes all at the same time. Good movie.

Well, there was more, but that’s enough for now. Two more days until class starts (Adam, sadly, decided not to take a class this Jan term and will have to stay home while I get up every morning for class; but, it’s okay because he’s going to do all the cooking and cleaning for us – yay!!! (if I write it on a blog that makes it true right??))